If you’ve come this far, it’s because you have the following question: how to make a business card? Besides, you want your potential clients to contact you, right? That’s why it’s important to always have a business card at hand.
But what are the dimensions of a business card? how do you know if your business card has a good design?
If you have no idea how to design a professional business card, don’t worry. In this article we have prepared a guide with everything you need to create your first business card, taking into account the 2021 and 2022 design trends that will help you stand out.
When you finish reading the article you will know how to make business cards and you will be ready to reach more potential customers. Plus, with the resources we’ll share at the end, you’ll be sure that your designs will be as memorable as you want them to be.
how to design a business card?
To learn how to make a memorable business card, you need to follow some basic guidelines. Don’t worry, it’s nothing complicated, quite the contrary.
It is important that you know what elements to include, what composition rules to take into account and, above all, what is the size of a business card.
Image: yesimadesigner.com
Include the basic elements of a business card
The elements or data of a business card may vary depending on your professional profile or the information you consider most relevant to your potential clients; however, if you want to learn how to make business cards, you should make sure to include the three essential elements in any type of business card.
Your personal or brand name
Your name is one of the most important aspects of business card design. You need to make sure you use it in the right way, whether you are using it as a brand name or writing it to accompany your business name in the form of a subtitle.
Knowing how to make business cards also means knowing how to choose the fonts, the size of the letters, and the placement of your name on the card. We recommend you to play with the design until you find a balance between all the elements, always bearing in mind that the name will be the face of your business.
Your profession or position in the company
The dimensions of a business card are perfectly calculated so that you can include all the relevant information. So do not forget to include, under your name, what is your specialty, profession, or position within the company to which the business card belongs.
Even if you learned how to make a business card because you have your own business, you must make sure you give the client the opportunity to know what specifically you do, and what are the reasons why they should contact you. You do that by highlighting your profession.
Your contact details
We are already clear that learning how to make business cards is important to reach our potential clients and make it easier for them to communicate with us. Then you will understand that it is essential to include contact information so that they can call or write us.
In this part you have several alternatives, because depending on the characteristics of your business you can include the following elements:
Telephone number.
E-mail address.
Social networks.
Address.
We recommend you to synthesize and not try to cover all the fields. While it seems like a good idea to include all these points, anyone who knows how to make business cards will tell you to include the essentials for the client to communicate. Therefore, we recommend you choose a maximum of two contact alternatives, the least you want is an overloaded business card.
Likewise, if you learned how to make a business card and you have your design ready to take it to the printer, we recommend that you review the following checklists to make sure that everything is in order:
Your business card has no spelling or grammar errors.
All your data is correct and up to date.
Your design has an appropriate resolution for the size of a business card.
Another important point to consider when making a business card is the design of the brand logo and the use of your company’s graphic guidelines. Remember to be subtle, even elegant, and use the logo in a size that is aesthetically pleasing.
Image: Inna Ilieva on Behance
Use accurate measurements to design a business card
One of the biggest doubts when designing a business card is the measurements. In fact, “business card measurements in Photoshop” or “business card size in Photoshop” are some of the main searches made by people who want to learn how to make a business card.
And since there is nothing better than clearing all the doubts and starting off on the right foot, we will explain what is the size of a business card for any format. This information will be useful whether you want to make business cards in PowerPoint, or if you want to make your business card in professional design programs.
what is the size of a business card?
The size of a business card often depends on the design standards of some countries, here are the main ones:
North American standard: 3.5 x 2 inches (88.9 x 50.8 mm).
European standard: 3.346 x 2.165 inches (85 x 55 mm).
Oceania standard: 3.54 x 2.165 inches (90 x 55 mm).
In addition to the size for designing a business card, you should also consider these factors:
bleed area: outermost part of the card that will be cut on the print.
Cutting line: the line that will serve as a guide for cutting the business cards.
Safety line: everything outside this line is subject to cutting errors. Do not allow the essential elements of the business card (text or logo) to go outside the safety line.
Image: Kendhie at 99designs
While business card areas vary by size and printer, always set a cut line 0.125 inches (3 mm) from the edge.
From there, set the safety line 0.125 inches (3 mm) from the cut line. In total, it’s 0.250 inches (6 mm) from the edge of the bleed area to the inside of the safety area.
Add your logo and graphic elements to the business card design
The logo, colors and graphic guidelines are an important part of a business card design. You must organize all the elements so that your business card looks eye-catching, useful and harmonious.
Don’t forget that you have two sides (pull and pull out) when making your business card. A good strategy is to use one side of the card exclusively for the logo, while you can use the other side to display contact information.
Image: Stanojevic for Cireson
Choose the typography to customize a business card
Once you have the design of your business card, the next step is to choose the typography.
Typography is always important, as it should make the text completely legible, and it should also fit harmoniously into the editing space.
When we are learning how to make business cards, we must take into account the three most important elements for the use of fonts or typefaces:
Size: for the text to remain legible, the letters must have at least 8 points. And to highlight some data such as the name, you can increase the base score.
Font: choose a font that represents what you are looking for, if you need help you can check some of the main pages to download free fonts.
Color: in this part it will be very important to have a color palette according to the visual identity of your brand, likewise, you should choose text colors that combine well with the background color of the business card.
Business card fonts are very easy to find, so you will not have any problem with this point.
With these aspects in mind, you will learn how to make a business card in any program. In the following points we will explain how to make business cards with two of the most popular programs in the world of graphic design.
Image: design.tutsplus
how to make a business card in Photoshop?
To make a business card in Photoshop, the first thing you should take into account is the information we mentioned in the previous point, as it will serve as a basis for learning how to make business cards in any program. You don’t need to search for “business card size in Photoshop” to find out what sizes to use, because the information we have given you so far is valid for any program.
Set up a new document
To make a business card in Photoshop, you will need to open a new document and follow these steps:
Select the size of the business card. The size of a business card usually conforms to the standards of the region you are in, however, in this step-by-step we will use a width of 95mm wide and 55mm high.
Choose a resolution of 300 dpi, an 8-bit CMYK color mode, and a white background.
Adjust the bleed area by selecting “view and rulers”. Guide lines will appear on the screen, drag them to place them 5mm from the edge.
Image: logaster.com
Add content to your business card
After setting up the canvas, the second step in designing business cards in Photoshop is to add the content. Remember that you can start from scratch, or use business card templates.
Here are the steps you need to follow to include the content in a business card design in Photoshop:
1. add the text corresponding to your personal or brand name, your profession and your contact details.
2. select the graphic elements you will use for your business card design. You can use Photoshop’s shape tool or download vectors that you can use to decorate your business card.
3. Configure the layout of all the elements within the design, remember that they must be proportional and that, in general, they must give harmony to the business card.
4. check that you have complied with all the standards we told you about when we talked about how to make a business card.
5. save the file in PSD so you can edit it at any time.
Keep in mind that you can try several ideas on the strip and remove it from your business card in Photoshop. We recommend that you work in layers to make a business card design, this way you can work with each of the elements individually.
how to create a business card in Illustrator?
Creating a business card in Illustrator is simple and the steps you must follow are very similar to those in Photoshop. Illustrator is one of the most widely used business card programs in the world, so you will be able to find an infinite number of resources that will help you improve your designs.
One of the main advantages of using Illustrator to design professional business cards is that you can download vectors and include them in your design, you just have to define what you need and look for them.
Set up a new document to make a business card in Illustrator
To start making your first business card in Illustrator you will need to enter the sheet settings and make the following adjustments:
Choose the number of artboards: we recommend you to create two artboards, one for the strip and one for the strip.
Define the spacing and columns: this setting will help you to separate the artboards and, therefore, the strip and strip layouts.
Select the dimensions of the business card.
Set a bleed of 0.125 inches for all edges.
Image: graphicmama.com
Adjust the graphic aspects of your business card
Learning how to make a business card in Illustrator doesn’t have to be complicated, although you’ll need to have some minimal knowledge of design and the program’s interface.
If you already know how to use Illustrator you are ready to learn how to make business cards, just follow these steps:
Choose a theme or template to start designing your personal business card. Search for references, download vectors or create a gradient background in Illustrator.
After choosing the theme, choose the fonts you want to use for your business card design. Use a maximum of two fonts.
Don’t forget to include your logo in the design of your business card, you can play with a proposal for the front or the back.
When you have your business card design ready, export it to PDF with a high quality print preset.
By following these steps you will learn how to make a business card in Illustrator. Just make sure you meet the basic standards for making business cards, and focus on making a design that is simple, yet eye-catching.
Image: webcoursesbangkok.com
why is it important to know how to make business cards?
A professional business card is one of the most powerful tools for networking, and despite the years and the digital age, it still retains great importance in the business arena.
did you know that even though we are in the age of social media, physical, modern and authentic professional business cards are very relevant in human connections?
The design of a business card will be the first impression that the people you want to do business with will have of you and, therefore, it is very important that you have the right design. Here are some of the reasons why knowing how to make business cards is important for your professional growth.
It helps to create a good personal or corporate image
In the business world, confidence is one of the most important things, and we could say that it is one of the factors that has the greatest influence on the growth of a company. Learning how to make a business card that conveys trust is essential for your network to not only grow but to be profitable as well.
Finding the perfect design, print quality and size of a business card can help you convey the personality of your business and will make those you give it to remember you when they need the products or services you offer.
Source: Unsplash
It’s a must-have marketing tool
Knowing how to make business cards is still useful knowledge for a company’s marketing strategies. There are spaces that social networks and the rest of digital tools can’t cover, and where a business card is still the best option.
No matter if it’s about conferences, events or meetings, if you know how to make an impactful business card, you can get your business known by people who are directly related to your niche market, and who might be interested in what you sell.
In those moments when interactions remain in the physical, personal sphere, knowing how to make business cards can be what differentiates you from the competition and allows you to reach spaces inaccessible to digital strategies. don’t forget that human contact is indispensable in business!
It is useful to synthesize important information
If you know how to make business cards, you can agree with us that well designed, it can be very useful to condense your company’s information, from identity and personality to the main contact details.
Phone numbers, emails, and even your company name can be easy to forget, yet the size of a business card is ideal for you to include everything a potential client needs to communicate with you. In fact, it is likely that your current clients will use your business card before they send you a business email or call you.
Finally, we can say that it is better to have a business card and not need it, than to need it and not have it. Knowing how to make a business card is still very useful, and we are sure that business cards will not go out of fashion, mainly because they still reflect that close and human aspect that any business needs to grow.
Image: Inna Ilieva on Behance
Templates to make a digital business card
To learn how to make business cards, you don’t necessarily have to master graphic design programs, although it’s always good to handle the tools used by professionals. At this point we will tell you about some tools that you can use to make business cards online.
If you want to save some time, there are business card templates available in many websites. So take pencil and paper to write down which are the sites or applications to make business cards online and free:
Canva.
Adobe Spark.
Visme.
Crello.
Free resources to make business cards
Learning how to make business cards is not enough to get good results, because you will always need imagination to create the designs, and resources with which you can facilitate the work.
Thinking about it, the XFY creative team designed a small list of resources that you can use to make your business cards. You can download all the resources for free and use them whenever you need them. You no longer have to worry about remembering the size of a business card or Google how to make a business card in Photoshop or Illustrator, with these resources you have practically the whole process solved.
Free business card backgrounds
Now that you have a better idea of how to make business cards, we are sure you understand how important the background of a business card is. Therefore, with this resource we want to help you choose a background that is attractive.
The download file includes more than 12 business card backgrounds, so you can choose the one you like the most to make your designs. All of them meet the business card size standard, and have a modern and attractive color palette.
Business Card Templates
Let’s say you have already learned how to make a business card, but you find that the process takes more time than you are willing to spend. If you feel identified with this situation, you can still solve it without going to a graphic designer, you just need to use business card templates.
In this resource we include five minimalist business card templates, so you won’t even have to leave this page to start creating your own cards. You can edit each of the designs in Illustrator, we just recommend you review the instructions we gave you on how to make business cards so you can be sure you’ve included all the information needed.
Social Media Logos and Icons: High Resolution Vector Template
If you are one of those who want to learn how to make business cards in Illustrator, this resource will be very useful. In the download file we share a pack of vectors with the logo of the main social networks, so you can be sure to include your networks in the contact details in an elegant and attractive way.
Making a business card in Illustrator does not have to be complicated, especially if you use resources to facilitate your creative process.
so now you know how to make a business card? We hope we’ve helped you with this mini guide and you’re ready to create a powerful personal brand image. Remember that, more than the number of elements, the important thing is the creativity you bring to your design.
see you soon!